FITZSIMMONS, Eleanor Alice_Parents? County of Origin?

Fran:

The surname Fitzsimons/Fitzsimmons was normally found in the eastern part of Ireland. Down, Cavan, Meath, Dublin, Westmeath and Wexford had the most Fitzsimons/Fitzsimmons families in the mid-19th century.

I searched on three different sites: the subscription sites Roots Ireland and FindMyPast and the free site www.irishgenealogy.ie   I was not able to find any baptismal records for children of John Fitzsimons and a mother with the surname Arnold.

Just to confirm, the parents were John Fitzsimmons and Margaret Arnold. The names were reversed in your note.

Any other famil info. Have you considered DNA testing?

Roger McDonnell

Roger:

Thank you for responding and for looking for info on my behalf. The names for the parents, according to the limited documentation I have -- Eleanor's death certificate and handwritten family notes -- are John Arnold and Eleanor Fitzsimmons. I take from the info that they were not married. The situation appears to be a family tradition, as two of Eleanor's daughters appear to have had children without benefit of marriage. My sense of Eleanor's own marriage is that it was an unhappy one. Her husband was a low-wage laborer in the western Kentucky coal mines, and I think he may have been a heavy drinker and possibly in trouble with the courts from time to time. That could have influenced their daughters' opinions about marriage. Maybe Eleanor herself did not marry because of family situations in her own childhood.

The research challenge is tougher because the only one of Eleanor's descendants who appears to have produced children is a grandson who died young in a construction accident. His wife remarried and moved with her new husband and her children to New Orleans. I have not been able to trace those descendants.

It had not occurred to me to flip the surnames to see what comes up, but it's worth trying. 

I did autosomal DNA testing via Ancestry.com and mtDNA testing through familytree.com at least 8 years ago. I uploaded the autosomal to GEDmatch.com about 5 years ago. I haven't mined the DNA results and matches as efficiently as I could have.  I am on the verge of hiring a professional to do that.

Thanks again for responding. I'm determined to learn more about Eleanor.

Fran

i am also looking for information on a Mary fitzsimons, My Mary Fitzsimons was  from 25 Pembroke Park, Ballsbridge, Dublin, Her father's name was Thomas and was a farmer. Mary Fitzsimons married my great grandfather John Keyes, 7 Davis Rd, Clonmel, co tipperary on the 6th August 1925 in st marys church haddington Road, donnybrook, Dublin, My Great Grandfater was a widdower of just over a year as his wife Bridget died suddengly. I see John died in 1953 and Mary was with him so I know she was still alive at that time, I am unsure if she moved back to Dublin after his death. I can not find her death in Clonmel at all. but i am also trying to find out if she had children with my Great Grandfather, I do not know her age at all but in a photo my sister has she said she looks young in 1938 at the wedding of my grandfather and grandmother. at the time of Johns death mary and john lived in 3 O'Rahilly avenue Clonmel which is just around the corner from 7 Davis road which John was married the first time. i would dearly love to find out who mary was and her family and her birth and if she had children with my grandfather, my great aunt once told me that they did but i can not find them. any help would be greatly appreciated x Kind Regards. Maureen